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Estonian driver Ott Tanak served notice of his WRC title credentials with a dominant display afternoon session as he extended his lead around the gravel circuit of Salou in the Spanish Rally. The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver needs to finish ahead of championship leader Thierry Neuville and second-placed Sebastien Ogier to retain hopes of a maiden WRC world title, and he’s given himself a good chance on the penultimate race weekend as he built a 26.8 second lead heading into Saturday. The returning Dani Sordo is in second place in Catalunya with Elfyn Evans dropping a place in the afternoon session to third. Tanak’s main title rivals suffered on the gravel course in northern Spain with Ogier and Neuville only seventh and ninth respectively after Friday.

Tanak is third in the overall standings, 21 points adrift of Neuville with one race weekend remaining in Australia, and needs to win in Catalunya to keep the pressure on the Belgian rider, who holds a slender seven-point advantage over defending champion Ogier. Tanak is in fine form though and victory in the Spanish Rally would be his fourth in five races.